Effective Communication - Get it Right!

Everyone seems to understand the importance of communication in organizations, right? So how come communicating effectively is still one of the biggest challenges organizations face? I've seen tons of well-intended communication plans that never take off, don't get the job done and/or fizzle and die.

The good news is that effective communication can be achieved! It'll take senior leadership's buy-in, adoption by employees at every level and consistent pulse checks and modifications, but it can be done. This article describes various types of ineffective communication, steps to building a better flow of communication and tips on creating a communication plan.

Major communication issues in the workplace:

• Ineffective communication - When the intended meaning of a message from the source is not the same as the meaning perceived by the receiver, i.e. the message is lost in translation. Also, communication is always top- down; employees are not given an opportunity to provide feedback.
• Lack of communication - There is little or no communication by the powers that be leaving employees feeling 'out of the loop' and confused; also reduces employees' effectiveness (working with limited information). Without sufficient information, employees tend to 'fill in the gaps' and make things up, usually at the detriment of the organization.
• Untimely communication - Necessary information is relayed to employees, but in an untimely fashion, so most people tend to make up stories and approximate, causing rumors to flourish and employees to panic.
• Unequal communication - Certain individuals always seem to be in the loop while others are not, causing issues such as favoritism and job dissatisfaction to arise.
• Inefficient communication - Communicating in a costly manner, i.e. expending excessive time, money, etc. For example, having to repeat a message to different groups of employees instead of being able to relay a message to everyone at the same time.

Steps to building effective and efficient communication:

• Set a communication goal - For example, "we will foster open, effective, and cost efficient 2- way communication (i.e. providing information & continuously receiving feedback and also seeking information) to enable the effective use of information by all individuals".
• Provide avenues for sharing information, such as:
o CEO (and other leaders) monthly updates with all employees (this encourages information to be disseminated at the same time and gives an opportunity for immediate feedback and clarification.
o Informal chit chats where employees discuss their work and give important updates. A forum for this could be breakfast with the COO or Vice President of a division.
o Skip level meetings where employees get to meet and discuss with their second level managers and other leaders.
o Company intranet - This can be a very effective medium of communication.
• The CEO and other leaders or departments could have separate web pages where they upload information to the organization. A feedback section would be included on the page for employees to make comments and ask questions; ideally, all questions should be answered either on the site or in another forum.
• Employee profiles (think Facebook or LinkedIn) are created for all employees online. Individuals populate and continuously update their profiles with their skills and expertise, experience, current assignments, etc. Employees should be encouraged to use these profiles to source for expertise and content experts, seek assistance with projects, etc. The profiles will hopefully foster team building, cross-functional communication and improve productivity (employees can easily seek out expertise instead of having to 'recreate the wheel').
o Company newsletter - To keep employees informed about other areas of the company.

• Conduct communication training, include:
o Active listening skills
o Non-verbal communication
o Email Etiquette - greetings, capital letters usage, etc
o Cubicle Etiquette - noise level, knocking before entering, etc

• Rearrange furniture - If possible, move furniture around in offices to create an atmosphere of collaboration versus boss/employee.
Place round tables in conspicuous locations to encourage employees to leave their cubicles and gather around for brainstorming sessions.

• Establish consistent channels for communicating.

Incorporating effective communication into values and objectives - If communicating effectively isn't already a part of the company's values, it should be incorporated and/or be included as an employee performance objective, which employees are rated on at the end of the performance evaluation period. This comes from the basic philosophy that you don't get what you don't measure. If employees/leaders are rated on how well they communicate they will have an incentive to communicate effectively.

Navigating the politics of implementing a new communication program - Without specific details, I would recommend the following in order to navigate the politics of implementing a new program:

1. Identify all stake holders and the implications of the program to them, this could be in terms of timing of the roll-out, workload changes, changes to the way things are done, (anticipate resistance to change, even if the change is positive), extra effort required, etc.
2. Seek out influential champions and use them to influence their colleagues and champion the cause.
3. Seek out influential naysayers and get them on your side by asking them about their concerns and addressing these concerns, asking for their advice/input on the issue and how they would recommend handling it. When people are approached for advice as opposed to asked about their thoughts on a matter, you may be changing a potentially negative response into a positive one.
4. Get as much input as possible from employees (e.g. via quick surveys) in the creation of the program. People tend to take ownership of a program they've had a hand in creating.
5. Create benchmarks for the program to measure success.
6. Seek feedback: questions should include - what is working well? What's not working? Ask for suggestions.
7. Evaluate and continuously improve the program.